There are times when Alexa wishes she were faster. Better able to put together thoughts, to assemble words, to line them up for a salvo without inspecting them for perfection. Every second of not replying is anguish, but she only has one shot at this, and they have to be perfect.

"No, Beljani. I'm snip snip because I [i]didn't[/i] help my girlfriend. Because I put Redana and Sagakhan first. Because I told myself that Isty can handle herself to cover up that I don't know how to talk to her anymore. Because I couldn't help her back when I had a body, because I can't help her now. Because maybe we won't be girlfriends after this, because the things we value are just too different.

"And you don't care about that, I know. It's my mistake, my problem, my girlfriend, not yours. But maybe you care about keeping her from interfering in the fight with Sagakhan. Maybe you want that crusty bitch in the ground more than I do. And maybe it's a good idea, when you're relying on somebody's favor, not to let her die. So it's in both our interests to calm Isty down enough that we can focus on putting Sagakhan down. And then, providing we survive this, you can collect your favor afterwards."

[Talk Sense, 6,5,3. +1 if with Wisdom, +0 if with grace. If with Wisdom, this also triggers Speak Only When You Mean It.]